Southern House Wren

Troglodytes musculus

Small brownish wren, rather plain overall, with dark barring on the wings and tail. Lacks white eyebrow. Occurs in a variety of open or semiopen habitats from sea level to treeline and even higher, including parks, rural farmland, and woodland edge with thick tangles. Often perches conspicuously when singing, but otherwise fairly secretive. Listen for bubbly song of chatters and trills, and harsh scolding calls.

Taxonomy

Scientific name
Troglodytes musculus
Order
Passeriformes
Family
Troglodytidae
Genus
Troglodytes

Photos

Distribution

Bird Calls

Other Birds

Long-billed Plover

Long-billed Plover

Thinornis placidus

Medium-sized plover. Breeds in flowing rivers with shingle islands and banks; outside of breeding season, can be found in slower rocky rivers, as well as flooded fields and lakeshores. Resembles a larger version of Little Ringed Plover—similarly brown, white below, with black neck band, white collar, and white supercilium—but lacks the yellow eyering of Little and is much larger, with longer wings and tail giving Long-billed a very different shape. Sometimes difficult to spot, as it is well camouflaged among rocks and pebbles, and often first detected by its sharp alarm call, “piwee”, given when flushed. Longer bill not an especially reliable feature for field identification.

Moluccan Starling

Moluccan Starling

Aplonis mysolensis

A dingy, entirely blackish starling with a long graduated tail and a dark eye. Juvenile shorter-tailed and browner than adult, with streaks below. Gregarious, often found in noisy groups, occurring in a variety of wooded habitats within the lowlands and foothills. Duller than Metallic Starling, with a dark eye and a shorter tail. Vocalizations include metallic “zip” and whining “weeer” call notes. Song is a bold set of uneven “glee-gloo-glee-gloo” notes.

Brown-streaked Flycatcher

Brown-streaked Flycatcher

Muscicapa williamsoni

Small, earthen-toned forest flycatcher. Closely related to Asian Brown (under which it is sometimes regarded as a subspecies) but much browner overall, with more extensive brown on the underparts. Streaking can be either relatively well-defined or smudgy; it is never as clear-cut and solid-looking as on Gray-streaked Flycatcher, and it is never as dark and extensive as in Dark-sided Flycatcher. Behavior like that many other similar flycatchers: sallies from an exposed perch to take prey, often in a clearing or edge area.

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